role/roles. Socially defined positions and patterns
of behaviour, which are characterized by specific sets of rules,
norms and expectations which serve to orientate and regulate the
interaction, conduct and practices of individuals in social
situations. We often think of roles in the theatrical or dramatic
sense, as referring to those parts played or performed by actors
or actresses in a play or drama. In the study of social and
cultural relations, roles, by extension of this theatrical idea,
refer to all the different 'parts' that may be 'played' by
individuals (actors and actresses) as they interact (perform) in
different contexts (scenes and acts) within a particular society
(the overall drama, play or theatre). Both on and off stage,
individuals occupying certain positions or roles within society
are expected to 'act' and behave in certain predictable ways, to
follow and conform to certain rules and norms that seem to exist independently of the
particular individuals involved. We are socialized into these sets of expectations, often
taking for granted the ways in which they define and classify the
social world into seemingly endless and obvious relations between
men, women, bakers, brothers, politicians, friends, and soon. The
central point here is that roles always exist in relation to
other roles: the occupational role of doctor, for example,
implies and relates to the roles of patient, nurse and
consultant, different roles which carry different expectations
and degrees of power and status.

Like actors, people play many
different and changing roles throughout life, and at any one
point in time are involved in a multiplicity of different roles
and role relations. As a student, for example, you may also be
female, a friend, a union member, a cousin, sometimes a guest, a
car driver, a customer, and so on. Not all of these roles can be
played at the same time - significantly they may sometimes
contradict, leading to 'role conflict' - and neither are they all
equal or identical. Anthropological studies of roles and 'role
systems' in different cultures, for example, have distinguished
between roles that are socially ascribed to individuals at birth,
or by virtue of age or kinship position, and roles that are
socially achieved with access dependent upon individual performance,
competition and qualification (Linton 1963).

While the term is commonly used
in discussions and descriptions of social interaction and
communication, its analytical value and explanatory power have
been questioned. Too often it assumes a static, consensual,
over-determining and over-simplified view of social relations,
thereby neglecting both individuals and structures of power and
inequality.